Toronto police believe they know who opened fire in a crowded food court at the Eaton Centre Saturday evening, killing one man, sending six others to hospital with bullet wounds and shaking an entire city.

With eerie echoes of the nearby 2005 Boxing Day shooting that left teenager Jane Creba dead, investigators say the brazen act of violence that erupted shortly before 6:20 p.m. targeted the deceased, Ahmed Hassan, a 24-year-old Toronto man known to police and with possible gang affiliations.

They are hunting one gunman, apparently captured on security camera footage, but refused to disclose more details for fear of “contaminating” information coming from the public.

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The Victims

Ahmed Hassan, 24

Deceased

The apparent target of Saturday’s gunfire, Mr. Hassan died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. and investigators believe his death was “targeted.” Mr. Hassan was “known” to police and while investigators are hesitant to say Saturday’s fracas was gang-related, they suspect Mr. Hassen had gang ties. Sunday morning, Mr. Hassan’s body was removed from the mall by a pair of men in three-piece suits believed to be working for the Ontario Coroner.

Boy, 13

Shot in head

A visiting teenage boy shopping with his family would suffer the most serious injury of any bystander on Saturday. The boy was listed in “critical” condition when he arrived at the Hospital for Sick Children for treatment, although there have since been reports that he was “responding well” to surgery. “There has been signs of improvement, but I’ve not been told to what degree,” Staff Sgt. Michael Perreault. From the small municipality of Port Hope — about 100 kilometers east of Toronto – the boy was apparently in Toronto for the day.

One other victim may also have been targeted, said Det. Sgt. Brian Borg. Among the wounded was a 13-year-old boy who was visiting Toronto and shopping with his family when he was shot in the head. Police said he is in critical but stable condition and was speaking on Sunday.

A 23-year-old man who suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the neck and abdomen is in the worst condition, listed as critical, said Det. Sgt. Borg. Other victims include a 25-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man, both shot in their left leg, and a 30-year-old woman grazed by a gunshot along her abdomen. They were released from hospital. A 22-year-old woman who was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to her hand left without getting treatment.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman who was injured as people fled the chaotic scene and reportedly sent into labour is doing well in hospital. The contractions later stopped, police officials said.

Investigators cannot say for certain at this point if the shooting was gang-related, but they are looking at that closely. One other victim may have gang ties.

For many, including Police Chief Bill Blair, the incident conjured up frightening memories of Boxing Day 2005, when Ms. Creba died and six others were wounded in a gang gunfight on Yonge Street, north of the shopping centre. Four men were convicted in that crime.

In this case, there is no evidence of an exchange of gunfire, and officials took great pains to stress that the city remains safe.

“Pardon my phrase, but one idiot with a gun on a Saturday afternoon, in downtown Toronto, does not speak to the state of affairs of the city of Toronto,” Acting Deputy Chief Jeff McGuire told reporters at a Sunday afternoon press conference at police headquarters. “This has an incredible ability to create fear and angst among people, but we’re here to tell you we’re investigating very carefully,” he said, adding that while it is a “horrific” incident, it is also isolated.

“Our investigation clearly suggests this is a targeted shooting and not a random act of violence against the general members of the public,” said Det. Sgt. Borg. “Regardless, it was committed in a busy mall, in the heart of the city, with no regard for members of the public simply going about their everyday business and pleasure.” The deceased was shot multiple times, and an autopsy is underway.

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Det. Sgt. Borg appealed to anyone who was in the food court at the time, anyone who has photographs or video, to contact the homicide squad immediately.

The mall was closed on Sunday, and is slated to reopen on Monday. The food court will not open until Tuesday.

Mayor Rob Ford, who attended the police press conference, vowed police would bring the perpetrator to justice. “We will apprehend this suspect, I will guarantee it,” he said. “This is a safe city, and I want people to continue doing what they do day to day, go out with their families, go shopping, have fun. We’re not going to tolerate this in our city.”

Chief Blair, who attended the scene Saturday, said police will be “relentless in our pursuit of the individual or individuals who were responsible for this violence.”

Shoppers who were in the Eaton Centre when shots rang out recalled scenes of panic, with a crush of people trying to run out of the mall, and others huddling in bathrooms or the ground for safety.

One man who was shot in the leg and later released from hospital told all-news TV station CP24 that his “survival instinct” kicked into gear despite his injury.

“I actually ran,” said the man, identified as Nicholas.

Marcus Neves-Polonio was working in the food court when he saw a man whip out a gun and start firing.

“It was out of the blue… As soon as I heard the gunshots, I ducked under the table,” he recalled.

Another man, Will, who was separated from his family by a few feet in the food court heard the shots and took cover. His wife hit the floor with their seven-month-old baby and three-year-old daughter, singing songs to soothe them. Later, the little girl told her father “that fireworks belong in the sky and not in people, so she might have seen something,” he said.

Police have not confirmed how many bullets were fired in the incident, and would not discuss the type of gun used, or if it has been recovered, but one witness said she heard around 15 shots before the panicked crowd stampeded for cover. Thousands poured into the downtown streets in the ensuing minutes.

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Hannah Stewart, who was shopping at the time, recalled a “massive crowd of people screaming, running, freaking out,” and noticed one young woman with blood on her toes who said she had just been shot.

Toronto Blue Jay Brett Lawrie happened to be on scene at the time of the shooting, writing on Twitter immediately afterward: “Pretty sure someone just let off a round bullets in eaton center mall… People sprinting up the stairs right from where we just were.”

“It was instant panic,” Mr. Lawrie said later. “It was almost like if you stepped on an anthill and then everyone just flooded right out of the whole place. It was kind of one of those things where you almost think, ‘Was it real or was it not?’ ”

Police were combing through surveillance videos and interviewing witnesses, while the coroner arrived on scene early Sunday to remove the body of the man who was killed.

The victim, wrapped in a navy blue sheet, was wheeled out of the shopping centre around 7:30 a.m.

“It’s astonishing that something like this could happen in broad daylight, in the middle of the day, in the food court of the Eaton Centre,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who was driving home along Yonge St. after participating in the Becel Ride for the Heart.

Tyler Anderson/National Post

“I hope the morons who caused this carnage pay the price and don’t get out of jail, once they catch them,” said Dana McKiel, a Rogers sportscaster, outside the closed Eaton Centre on Sunday.

“People think it’s like the wild wild west, Newark or Compton. Toronto is not like that. That said, there are some real characters who live in this city who have no respect for the law.”

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